Editing Freemasonry (section)

===18th-century Enlightenment===
[[File:Goose and Gridiron.jpg|thumb|Goose and Gridiron, where the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster, later called the [[Premier Grand Lodge of England|Grand Lodge of England]], was founded]]
During the [[Age of the Enlightenment]] in the 18th century, Freemasons comprised an international network of like-minded men, often meeting in secret in ritualistic programs at their lodges. They promoted the ideals of the Enlightenment and helped diffuse these values across Britain and France and other places. British Freemasonry offered a systematic creed with its own myths, values and set of rituals. It fostered new codes of conduct—including a communal understanding of liberty and equality inherited from guild sociability—"liberty, fraternity, and equality"<ref>Margaret C. Jacob's seminal work on Enlightenment freemasonry, Margaret C. Jacob, ''Living the Enlightenment: Free masonry and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Europe'' (Oxford University Press, 1991) p. 49.</ref> Scottish soldiers and Jacobite Scots brought to the Continent ideals of fraternity which reflected not the local system of Scottish customs but the institutions and ideals originating in the English Revolution against royal absolutism.<ref>Margaret C. Jacob, "Polite worlds of Enlightenment", in  Martin Fitzpatrick and Peter Jones, eds. ''The Enlightenment World'' (Routledge, 2004) pp. 272–287.</ref> Freemasonry was particularly prevalent in France—by 1789, there were between 50,000 and 100,000 French Masons, making Freemasonry the most popular of all Enlightenment associations.<ref>Daniel Roche, ''France in the Enlightenment'' (Harvard U.P. 1998)) p. 436.</ref>

Jacob argues that Masonic lodges probably had an effect on society as a whole, for they "reconstituted the polity and established a constitutional form of self-government, complete with constitutions and laws, elections and representatives". In other words, the micro-society set up within the lodges constituted a normative model for society as a whole. This was especially true on the Continent: when the first lodges began to appear in the 1730s, their embodiment of British values was often seen as threatening by state authorities. For example, the Parisian lodge that met in the mid-1720s was composed of English [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] exiles.<ref>Jacob, ''Living the Enlightenment,'' pp. 20, 73, 89.</ref> Furthermore, freemasons all across Europe made reference to the Enlightenment in general in the 18th century. In French lodges, for example, the line "As the means to be enlightened I search for the enlightened" was a part of their initiation rites. British lodges assigned themselves the duty to "initiate the unenlightened". Many lodges praised the Grand Architect, the masonic terminology for the divine being who created a scientifically ordered universe.<ref>Jacob, ''Living the Enlightenment,'' pp. 145–147.</ref>

On the other hand, historian [[Robert Roswell Palmer]] noted that lodges operated separately and Masons politically did not act together as a group.<ref>Robert R. Palmer, ''The Age of the Democratic Revolution: The struggle'' (1970) p. 53</ref> American historians note that [[Benjamin Franklin]] and [[George Washington]] were leading Masons, but the significance of freemasonry in the revolution is a topic of debate.<ref>Neil L. York, "Freemasons and the American Revolution", ''The Historian'' 55#2 (1993), pp 315+.</ref> Daniel Roche contests freemasonry's claims for egalitarianism, writing that "the real equality of the lodges was elitist", only attracting men of similar social backgrounds.<ref>Roche, 437.</ref>

In long-term historical perspective, [[Norman Davies]] has argued that Freemasonry was a powerful force in Europe, from about 1700 to the twentieth century. It expanded rapidly during the Age of Enlightenment, reaching practically every country in Europe, as well as the European colonies in the New World and Asia. Davies states, "In the nineteenth century and beyond it would be strongly associated with the cause of Liberalism."<ref>{{cite book|author=Norman Davies|title=Europe: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jrVW9W9eiYMC&pg=PA634|year=1996|publisher=Oxford UP|pages=634|isbn=978-0-19-820171-7 }}</ref> In Catholic lands it was anti-clerical and came under heavy attack from the Catholic Church. In the 20th century, it was suppressed by Fascist and Communist regimes. It was especially attractive to royalty, aristocrats and politicians and businessmen, as well as intellectuals, artists and political activists. Davies notes that prominent members included [[Montesquieu]], [[Voltaire]], [[Robert Walpole|Sir Robert Walpole]], [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]], [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], and [[George Washington]].<ref>Davis, ''Europe'' p. 634.</ref> Steven Bullock notes that in the late 18th century, English lodges were headed by the Prince of Wales, Prussian lodges by king [[Frederick the Great]], and French lodges by royal princes. Emperor Napoleon selected his own brother as the Grand Master of France.<ref>Steven C. Bullock, "Initiating the enlightenment?: recent scholarship on European freemasonry." ''Eighteenth-Century Life'' 20#1 (1996): 80–92. [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/10377/summary online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617215840/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/10377/summary |date=17 June 2018 }}</ref>